Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Editorial: Conference Season Well, it's conference season again, and I'm sure many of you have or are attending your state shows. I'm very impressed with many of our state organizations for the work they do in promoting the profession and educating surveyors. The national shows, although costly, generally provide more than the state shows in the way of presentations, seminars and the latest technology and ....Read the Article

Surveyors In History Bryant Sturgess is a licensed surveyor and civil engineer in California. He was Chief Surveyor for the State Lands Commission under François (Bud) Uzes and Roy Minnick. Now retired after 38 years service he continues to the present as a water boundary consultant for the California State Lands Commission and the State ....Read the Article

GPS at LSU - A New Box for the Tigers Turning a golf course into a baseball stadium for one of the nation's most successful college teams presented a number of "interesting" challenges for my employer, Buquet & LeBlanc, Inc. of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The fact that the new stadium would replace a legendary ballpark that had been the site of the Louisiana State University Fighting Tigers' success for... Read the Article

Surveyors Convert, Connect & Expand to Create a Network of Possibilities Beginning in 1967, Van Harten Surveying (VHS) built a reputation in the City of Guelph, Ontario, Canada and surrounding communities for its ability to complete a wide range of engineering and surveying activities with speed and accuracy. The company's list of clients eventually grew to include builders, developers, lawyers, universities, utilities and government agencies. Yet...Read the Article

A Visit To Nedo When it comes to history, the picturesque town of Dornstetten has deep roots tracing back more than twelve hundred years. Translated "thorn places"or "thorn sites", its municipal crest bears a deer antler above a thorn bush. Located at the edge of the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, the town was first mentioned in public records in ....Read the Article

Students in the Pipeline Surveyors don't need advanced tools to see changes on the horizon for their industry. The general economic slowdown has meant challenging times today, but the future promises increased opportunities. The 2008­2009 edition of the Bureau of Labor and Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook contained the prediction that "Overall employment of surveyors, cartographers ....Read the Article

Vantage Point: A Wish List for Risk MAP Map Modernization is dead, long live Risk MAP. So said a colleague while discussing the future of floodplain mapping in the United States. What he meant was that FEMA is finishing up its final year of Congressional funding for the Flood Map Modernization Program and has begun the transition toward its new Risk MAP (Mapping, Assessment, and Planning) strategy. While Map Mod tried to ...Read the Comments

Pointed Journeys After driving until the road ends and then hiking for hours, you arrive at your goal. Are you atop a mountain peak, at a cave's entrance, or at a rare fossil dig? No, you're at a degree confluence point. There is no band, victory tape, not even a marker. You are likely to be standing in a field alongside some bored-looking cows. But you are on a unique spot­where a line of ...Read the Article